chessfeels: conversations about chess, psychology & mental health (JJ Lang, Julia Rios)
Explore every episode of chessfeels: conversations about chess, psychology & mental health
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Feb 2024 | 34: problems with you people (chess gripes) | 00:55:24 | |
A true festivus! (We have a lot of problems with you people!) We also miss you terribly. Today Julia and JJ explore the very depths of h3ll (US chess tournaments). | |||
| 07 Mar 2024 | 35: Isaac Haxton, the chess/poker boygenius who lived | 00:51:20 | |
Julia and JJ interview their old family friend, Isaac "Ike" Haxton. They catch up on Haxton's illustrious poker career, his less illustrious chess career, and everything in between. About Isaac: "Born in New York City, the young-looking 32-year-old Haxton (who bears a slight resemblance to Harry Potter) was raised in Syracuse by his psychiatrist mother and English professor father. His father introduced Haxton to various games of skill when Haxton was a young child. In fact, Haxton was playing chess at four years of age and, by age ten, was an avid and competitive Magic: The Gathering player. Haxton attended Brown University and majored in computer science. However, poker was far more appealing, and Haxton—like many successful pros—swapped college for poker. At the age of 18, Haxton began to visit Verona, New York’s Turning Stone Casino. He started at $3/$6 limit Hold’Em before quickly increasing his stakes. At the same time, Haxton embraced online poker with his first $50 deposit on Ultimate Bet." source
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| 25 Apr 2022 | 7: tilt, fizzle, and pop | 00:46:07 | |
JJ and Julia are not feeling it this week. They address questions they've gotten from listeners about the phenomenon of "tilt," and after discussing various strategies for getting over or working through a tilted episode by finding ways to reignite your passion for chess, switch to the more general question of what to do when that passion just doesn't seem to be there at the moment. They discuss the pressure of feeling like being a chess obsessive means the fire 'should' always be there, and why episodes of disillusion can be defense mechanisms against fears of bad play. This one's kind of a bummer. We'll be happier next week, we promise. | |||
| 21 Mar 2024 | 36: chess therapy (no, not like that) | 01:00:00 | |
Julia and JJ switch hats now that JJ is cured. They discuss how to find and keep motivation for chess studying when time and energy are in short supply. Buy our really good merch | |||
| 10 May 2022 | 9: the future of chess is trans (with Sam Sharf of New College) | 00:56:44 | |
Sam joins JJ and Julia to discuss her journey back into chess obsession and improvement after coming out as trans and finding a newfound desire to put her all into life. Julia provides feedback on Sam's tendency to collapse in endgames against higher-rated opponents and in high-pressure games. JJ discusses the importance of perspective and reflection when determining whether a tournament was a success, and how this can impact choosing which section to compete in. | |||
| 29 Jun 2022 | 15: the adhd episode | 00:56:35 | |
Julia and JJ run a victory lap on a successful first season of podcasting by thanking their listeners (not you), giving candidates predictions (not Ding), and opening a to-be-continued discussion on neurodivergent learning styles. The pair talk about their experiences in chess and life as two individuals living with ADHD and talk a bit about what neurodivergency is and why it matters from a psychological perspective for all chess players (yes you this time). While we take a break to get ready for season 2 of chessfeels (#2chess2feels), you can | |||
| 22 Sep 2022 | 18: it was only a blitz, how did it end up like this? | 00:50:12 | |
Julia and JJ talk about The Cheating Scandal, against their better judgment, breaking down the philosophical questions and psychological implications of The Scandal and make lots of jokes about anal beads in the process. Why does it matter that Magnus did not explicitly accuse Hans of cheating? What counts as evidence of cheating? Would the scandal be a scandal if You People didn't tweet so much? Free Hans shirt | |||
| 01 Dec 2022 | 25: men would rather hire a chess coach than go to therapy | 00:54:25 | |
What do chess teaching and practicing therapy have in common? It sounds like a joke, and probably is, but you'll have to listen if you want to find out the actual answer. Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 15 Mar 2022 | 1: the real psychology of chess | 00:52:00 | |
JJ convinces Julia to start a podcast about chess and psychology. Julia explains what people mean when they say they're interested in "the psychology of chess," and what they're missing. They explore more fruitful ways to reframe discussions about emotions and psychology in chess. Then, we learn how JJ and Julia first met, how they each got into chess, and why Julia does not have imposter syndrome. Finally, our hosts introduce future themes such as addiction, impulse control, and the "adult disprover." | |||
| 24 May 2022 | 11: convince me! | 00:51:19 | |
Julia and JJ solicit controversial opinions from their listeners on twitter, and proceed to debate the merits of these ideas. Does playing the Fried Liver make you a bad person? Would chess be a better game if there were no draws? Is Chessable overrated? Julia and JJ discuss their listener's worst opinions. Brought to you by Chessable. | |||
| 06 Feb 2024 | 33: better never than late | 01:03:54 | |
We're back! Very proud. We respond to a number of questions from our dedicated fans, solving both chess and mental health in the process. Also, re audio quality, Julia didn't have her mic on her, which somehow meant that JJ's audio quality was worse. It will be better next time and we're going to start releasing episodes every two weeks. Buy our really good merch | |||
| 13 Oct 2022 | 20: do you love this shit? (the anxiety episode, pt 1) | 00:51:00 | |
Julia explains what anxiety really is, and JJ talks about how they see this manifest in several of their students' annotations of their own slow games. You can learn how to, like, do anything about it next week. Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 22 Mar 2022 | 2: this is your brain on blitz | 01:17:29 | |
We're all obsessed with blitz, but could it actually be addictive? Our resident clinical psychologist explains why playing online chess might actually be addicting and assesses whether JJ's blitz behavior meets criteria for an addiction. Follow along and see if you do, too, just in time to learn more about possible interventions for your blitz-addicted loved ones. JJ and Julia question what mechanisms chess websites use to promote addictive behavior and explore how we could use blitz in a way that fosters chess, and life, improvement. | |||
| 05 Apr 2022 | 4: f*ck chess, all my homies play chess (with Jon Mackenzie of the Chess Pit Podcast) | 00:56:02 | |
Jon Mackenzie of The Chess Pit podcast (and Tifo football analytics?) joins JJ and Julia to discuss what he describes as his own ambivalence towards the game of chess. Why is it that chess differs from other sports fandoms in terms of its focus on improvement? What is it about chess that can inspire such unique emotional pitfalls? Could JJ and Julia beat the Chess Pit guys in a fight? | |||
| 12 Apr 2022 | 5: are you an aggressive player? or just a bad person? | 00:48:39 | |
Julia and JJ question whether there is a connection between an aggressive style of play over the board and aggressively alienating personalities off the board. And, even worse, could aggression still improve your chess even if there is? JJ laments that many of their students describe clarifying, forcing, but ultimately simplifying moves as "aggressive." Julia explains how different conceptualizations and types of aggression can map onto chess in different ways. They then dunk on GM Reuben Fine's psychobabble from the 1950s about chess and psychology, and close on a conversation about how misconceptions of aggression within a game of chess can alienate marginalized groups of people within the chess space more generally. | |||
| 13 Apr 2023 | 32: convince me! never goes away (part two) | 00:48:32 | |
| 23 Feb 2023 | 29: married to the game (with IM John Bartholomew) | 01:09:46 | |
Julia and JJ are joined by the most wholesome man in chess content creation. Try to keep up as the trio talks about everything from the evolution of John's career as an educator to his dating life to his teaching philosophy to his own pet openings. An example of JB-approved patience from one of JJ's recent games Buy our really good merch | |||
| 11 Sep 2024 | 41: getting down and dirty (a very brief interview with Vjeko Nemec AKA Chessentials) | 01:44:41 | |
The teacher (JJ) becomes the student when their coach (CM Vjekoslav Nemec, aka @Chessentials_) joins JJ and Julia to talk about the emotional highs and lows of playing competitively, particularly when one's identity is wrapped up with being a chess player. Then the coach (Vjeko) becomes the patient when their (unofficial) therapist (Julia) gets to the bottom of why their lows feel so low. Check out the Chessentials blog | |||
| 17 May 2022 | 10: #chessgoals (or: the ceiling is the roof) | 00:59:31 | |
Julia and JJ talk about what short and long term goals can look like. They expose the types of mistakes most of us make when setting goals or making plans towards achieving them. They also announce their new partnership with Chessable, but neglect to talk about whether using chessable can help with goal-setting. They pressure each other into sharing their own personal chess goals on the air. Links: | |||
| 21 Aug 2024 | 40: state of the union (we're sorry) | 00:38:07 | |
It's been a while! JJ and Julia check in to tell everyone where they've been and where we (you! and us!) are going next. Buy our really good merch | |||
| 23 Nov 2022 | 24: men only want one thing and it's disgusting (with WGM Jennifer Shahade) | 00:58:01 | |
Julia and JJ are joined by WGM and multi-hyphenate US chess champion, poker pro, and author Jennifer Shahade to talk about the future (and past) of social media, the mental side of chess, and the open Sicilian. Purchase Jennifer's book, Chess Queens! | |||
| 03 May 2022 | 8: what your chess opening says about your sex life (with NM Gopal Menon) | 00:52:17 | |
JJ and Julia are joined by opening researcher and blitz badass NM Gopal Menon to dispel the myth that your opening preferences can tell us anything about your style of play or your personality more generally. Once this is out of the way, they turn to the more important question of which openings correspond to what sorts of sexual kinks and proclivities. Don't worry, we obviously address the most important question for anybody building an opening repertoire: which openings fuck? This one is particularly NSFW. | |||
| 15 Mar 2023 | 31: convince me! returns, part one | 00:49:44 | |
Happy one year anniversary of Julia and JJ starting a podcast! To celebrate, we dig deep into the archives and share the prodigal return of the "convince me" series. Listen as the dynamic duo discuss: Mittens, the dumbest rules in chess, chessboxing, human chess coaches, and whether you're underrated. Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 31 Oct 2022 | 22: do you know where your tooth is? (halloween special) | 01:25:26 | |
Julia and JJ solicited scary and "scary" stories from listeners and compiled them for a very spooky episode. Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 02 Feb 2023 | 27: new year, new benoni | 01:09:26 | |
Julia and JJ revisit an earlier conversation about the dangers of setting results-oriented goals, such as the 'annual rating goal' that plagues chess improvement circles every January. Then, Julia helps JJ set a ratings goal for the year in a way that avoids these traps. Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 09 Mar 2023 | 30: chessfeels bookclub pops off (Under the Surface by Jan Markos) | 00:45:21 | |
Julia and JJ talk about one of their favorite chess books, as well as what makes a good chess book and how to read a chess book. Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 09 Feb 2023 | 28: the stouffer's masters' chess'feels classic tournament minisode | 00:19:22 | |
Julia and JJ are pleased to invite you to the first ever Stouffers' Masters' tournament, modeled off of the...idiosyncratic...Airthings Masters' double elimination format across multiple divisions. You can register here, but spots are limited, so make your application SHINE. | |||
| 14 May 2024 | 38: a minisode about nothing | 00:38:22 | |
{∅} | |||
| 23 Jun 2022 | 14: oops! all julia rios! | 00:59:31 | |
JJ and Julia are joined by Julia's "name twin" @omgjulia, a podcaster, poet, narrator, writer, and, most importantly, non-chess player who has been mistakenly tagged in twitter posts intended for "Dr. Cool Chess Julia." Hilarity ensues as JJ and DCCJ attempt to talk to somebody who doesn't play chess for what sounds like the first time in either of their lives. Get these secret sneak peak into the bizarre and confounding perception of non-chess players on chess. The trio also dives into how perceptions of nerd culture, as well as nerd culture's attitude towards gender and queerness, have evolved over time. Then, JJ and DCCJ make omgjulia define chess concepts for their amusement. BUY OUR MERCH https://chessfeels-podcast.creator-spring.com/apparel Follow more Julias Rios here: https://twitter.com/omgjulia | |||
| 08 Dec 2022 | 26: a very chessfeels christmas gift guide | 00:24:36 | |
| 29 Mar 2022 | 3: a chess player walks into a therapist's office... | 01:01:58 | |
What would therapy for a tournament chess player look like? During a "therapy" session, Julia helps JJ unpack a number of questions that plagued them throughout a frustrating tournament where JJ kept running into familiar problems. Why do we sometimes get fixated on a single, unnecessary variation that costs us precious time on the clock? Is there anything we can do at the board to reset our nervous system when panic sets in? Sit in and listen to our trusty duo as they attempt to get to the root causes of the psychological blocks JJ encounters within and beyond the 64 squares. | |||
| 29 Sep 2022 | 19: the gang fixes lichess (with @NoJokeChris) | 00:55:44 | |
Julia and JJ are joined by Chris Callahan, the community organizer for LiChess.org. They discuss what LiChess does, and could do, about the addictiveness of blitz, how to be more accessible, and, about all sorts of cool stuff LiChess already does. Follow Chris on twitter and lichess People are still loving our Free Hans shirts | |||
| 08 Mar 2022 | chessfeels podcast: the trailer | 00:01:07 | |
chessfeels episode 1 drops March 15th. Beware the Ides of Julia's half-birthday! Leave us a five-star review and be entered into a drawing for a chance to win three free months of LiChess Premium.
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| 08 Jul 2022 | 16: the unsolicited advice episode (with Omar Mills of Chess Von Doom) | 00:35:39 | |
After a week where chess twitter imploded under the weight of its users debating the value of giving unsolicited advice to other chess players, Julia and JJ decided to unsolicitedly tell everyone why they're using twitter wrong. They're joined by the legend Omar for a heartfelt discussion about how hard it is to hear the hard truth sometimes (stop playing bl*tz). While we take a break to get ready for season 2 of chessfeels (#2chess2feels), you can | |||
| 10 Nov 2022 | 23: you're studying openings wrong (with FM Nate Solon) | 00:55:26 | |
You're studying openings bad and you should feel bad! In the first podcast to ever feature two of the four highest rated chess players in the state of Nebraska, Omaha-based FM Nate Solon joins Julia and JJ to talk about how he studies openings and why that makes him better than other people. He also talks about his new book, "Evaluate like a GM," co-authored with GM Eugene Perelshteyn, and why 'evaluation' is an undervalued art in chess study. Subscribe to Nate's controversial and brave Substack | |||
| 07 Jun 2022 | 13: the prestigious mr dodgy interview | 00:48:53 | |
You may know him as the guy with the picture of the horse. You may know him as the organizer of the prestigious Mr Dodgy invitational. You may not know he works for Chessable. But you know him! But do you really know him? You will now. Julia and JJ interview the Alireza of twitter trolls: Mr Dodgy. They discuss different types of trolling, and how to be a clown on the internet without getting sucked into the fray or going off the deep-end. He is here to talk about how he uses and misuses the internet for his, and our, amusement. Follow Dodgy on twitter: https://twitter.com/ChessProblem | |||
| 31 May 2022 | 12: it's about time | 00:57:53 | |
In just one episode, Julia and JJ reveals the world's funniest time jokes and solve the problem of time trouble in chess. They pontificate on the phenomenon of time pressure: how stressful it is, how to avoid it, and whether it is possible to avoid being stressed out by it. JJ suggests that 'playing too fast' is an underrated cause of time trouble. Julia talks about how to do work away from the board that can help handle panic and pressure in low-time situations. | |||
| 05 Apr 2024 | 37: a conversation with Maya Marlette, chess thief | 00:55:38 | |
JJ and Julia interview Maya Marlette, a student of JJ's with a really cool chess backstory and an even cooler day job. Buy our really good merch | |||
| 15 Sep 2022 | 17: you can't quit us, we're fired | 00:35:44 | |
What should we do when our love of chess and our exhaustion with competition come into conflict? Julia and JJ tackle the question of why competitive and amateur chess players alike make such a big deal out of quitting. What does it mean to 'quit chess' if it's still a part of your life? What could 'recreational chess play' look like? Where does the desire to quit, rather than merely take a break, from playing competitive chess come from? Why do people think the options are 'keep improving' or 'quit playing'? Why are we like this? Check out our recommended courses on chessable | |||
| 14 May 2024 | 39: the adhd episode part 2 | 01:03:51 | |
JJ and Julia return to a fan favorite topic: adhd. This time, instead of hyperfocusing on their personal experiences with adhd, they hyperfocus on adhd testing, diagnosing, and, of course, what your opening choices say about your neurodiversity. Listen to our original adhd episode | |||
| 19 Apr 2022 | 6: you are more than just your rating (you are also your blunders) | 00:52:24 | |
Why do so many chess players obsess over their ratings? What does this obsession look like, why is it often an impediment to progress, and what can we do to get over ourselves? Fresh off an almost-good tournament, JJ recounts their experience of getting fixated on the possibility of a large rating gain, and how hard it was to re-focus on their chess once this happened. Julia expands on the pernicious effects of ratings-fixation. JJ suggests less results-orients ways to refocus measuring chess improvement and progress, and Julia provides advice for how to navigate ill-timed intrusive thoughts about rating-panic. | |||
| 20 Oct 2022 | 21: do you ever get nervous? (the anxiety episode, pt 2) | 00:53:07 | |
Julia and JJ continue their conversation about how anxiety can impact your chess. They talk about how to notice when your thoughts turn from 'observational' to more 'reactive' or 'evaluative,' and how annotating your own (slow) chess games can be a great way to practice these observational skills. JJ mentions the chess dojo training program which is really good | |||